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My New Enrichment Garden


leec
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I wanted to thank everyone that gave advice and ideas for my staffies enrichment garden. It has taken a while, but it is finally complete.

The yard is 30m x 15m, yes I know it's big, but I have 20 acres, so lucky puppies. It has lots and lots of shade, a lovely new cubby house, tunnel and in summer of course, there will be the half shell pool.

The yard was only completely finished yesterday and hubby and I still have to attach the snake mesh, which we will do this weekend.

I was home sick all last week and each day when I went to feed my horse I put the 2 dogs in the yard to see if the escapologist would be able to get out. So far he hasn't even tried! He's had a look at the fencing and I think he's stumped on how to get out. The top of the fencing is just over 6 1/2 feet!!!

I am feeling very confident that we have a solution to our problem and I'm just so happy that soon my fur-kids will be able to spend their days in a safe zone with lots of enrichment while I am at work, YAY.

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Brilliant job. Very impressed.

If they are diggers maybe a clam shell pool filled with sand. You appear to be in a dry part of Vic so maybe put it in an area that gets the shade in the arvo and wet the sand. It makes a great cool area for them to rest in. Zeph loves to do that in summer.

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What a great idea - she is a digger, he is a water baby :) Might have to get another shell pool so they have one of each.

Thank you for the compliments, I'm pretty chuffed about the yard, considering it nearly caused WW4 with the OH.

And yes, we are in central Vic, very dry here already and will only get worse, this yard will have lots of shade all day long, we made sure of that :)

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Thanks everyone :)

As far as digging under the fence line it should be pretty hard as the fencing wire is attached to a straight wire top and bottom as well, it is a very well constructed, sturdy fence.

But, just in case, when we put the snake wire up, we will be bending the last 6 inches or so under, so no digging :)

Edited by leec
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Good on you for making such an effort to keep your dogs safe and engaged on their own property! You've put a lot of hard work in! Do you have any trees where you could put a dangle/swing from (if your dogs were into such things of course). I'd tie it up high when you weren't at home. We have one hanging from our clothes line that is simply a really long lycra plait with a ball on the end for them to bite onto and tug. It has stretched out and they no longer get 'air' when they swing.

Edited by Little Gifts
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Oh geez, that sounds like too much fun LG. My two are full on staffy adolescents and as such they play hard, and you're right - I'd never leave them alone with something like that, but could be good fun when we are around - I'll look into buying/making something for them.

They have heaps of balls, tug ropes etc to keep them occupied as well, but of course, their brand new cushy soft beds in the new cubby house are the favourite thing at the moment to tug on !!! :)

Yes, it was a lot of effort, but I didn't like the idea of these young dogs spending 8-9 hours in a (very large 4 x 4m) kennel while I was at work. It is unfortunate that Chadley jumps/climbs and we did not know this when we brought him home from Stafford Rescue Victoria. We found out pretty quickly, but by that stage he had wormed his way into our hearts and we couldn't send him back. Anyway, he is much better off with us :)

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Thank you, I try hard :laugh:

On a serious note though, we live on property and IF by chance he did get out and go wondering into the sheep paddocks, the farmers have the right to shoot him. That's the way it is and I'm not prepared to take the risk, that's why I had to build them something that would work for everyone.

Thanks for the pats on the back everyone, I really appreciate it.

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That is pretty awesome - you should be very proud of what you have done for your dogs.

If you have a digger and a water baby (mine is both), you can leave the pool up all year - we had a lot of rain this morning and I have already dried him off twice.

A good digging area with treats and toys dug just under the dirt for them to find is awesome fun as well.

Good on you!

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